


a thousand winds

by clearlykero



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Sad, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 01:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15939062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clearlykero/pseuds/clearlykero
Summary: Iwatobi and Sano Middle have always been rival schools. That's where Ryuuji met Toraichi.





	a thousand winds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ymzk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ymzk/gifts), [sugarblaster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarblaster/gifts), [themorninglark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/gifts), [denkimouse](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=denkimouse).



> i'm just going to paste ji's tweets here for context.
>
>> So a bunch of us saw a passing tweet from JP TL about how Ryuuji (PKH/the food blogging ossan) is from Iwatobi so at some point, could've swam with/been rivals with Rin's dad, Toraichi before he gave up swimming and tragically passed away years later. 
>> 
>> Then that led to all of us spiraling into headcanon madness and despair bc  
> 1) Ryuuji was one of the top swimmers in the world before he suddenly quit for an unknown reason  
> 2) Mikhail said Ryuuji (similarly to Natsuya) swam w/o his heart in it bc what he truly wanted wasn't there
>> 
>> So NOW all of us are like what if the reason Ryuuji became a scruffy ossan wandering the world eating alone after he quit was bc his rival Toraichi passed away after giving up his dream of swimming on the world stage?? what if he meets Rin in s3 and recognizes him as Tora's son??

"We're gonna take on the world, Ryuu." Tora is lying on his back, tossing his graduation scroll from hand to hand. The rooftop of his apartment building isn't as clean as Tora likes to pretend it is, so Ryuuji is just leaning against the wire fence, looking at him with raised eyebrows. Before them, the sun is setting, streaking the sky with brilliant purples and oranges. Ryuuji has a feeling this is the last time he'll see a sunset from here, with Tora.

"Sure, Tora."

"Can't you sound more excited?" A loud sniff, like he's trying to fake-cry. Ryuuji grins at him and shakes his head. Tora pouts, then rolls over to face Ryuuji properly, digging something out from his pocket. "Miyako made me an omamori, look."

Miyako has lasted the longest of any of Tora's girlfriends, now. It brings a bitter taste to Ryuuji's mouth, especially when Tora is so radiantly happy in her presence. It doesn't help that Ryuuji actually gets along with her. "Oh? Where's mine, huh?"

"I'm special, obviously." Tora bares his teeth at Ryuuji. They're awful, as always, like a bloody shark. "Don't worry, Ryuu. You're special too."

It stings, salt on an old, old wound, to hear Tora say 'you're special' and not mean it the way Ryuuji wants him to mean it. He could tell Tora this, and he knows Tora would change, for him. "I don't like the way you say special," Ryuuji says instead, because he is afraid, and because as long as Tora is by his side in the water, he'll be fine.

"Because you're specially dumb! Hahaha!"

"Tora, you little— get back here!"

 

~*~

 

It's drizzling, of course. The sort of rainfall that can't make up its mind if it wants to drench you or just dampen your clothes, too light for an umbrella but enough to make you miserable. And on a day like this, Ryuuji thinks, everyone should damn well be miserable. Half of him still thinks it's a dream. Of all the stupid ways to go, this— this shouldn't have been in the cards. The garden is full of old men whose turn it should have been instead.

Ryuuji swallows his rage, and steps inside, where Tora's wife is talking to someone Ryuuji doesn't know. The kids are clinging to her skirt, faces screwed up in puzzlement.

He wants to hate Miyako. Has tried to, since way back before, when she took Tora away from their shared dream. But now he watches the way she picks at her nails, her wobbly smile at her children when they ask where Dad is. She is still so beautiful in her grief, and he wants so badly to hate her.

"Miyako-chan," he says, touching her on the shoulder and startling a gasp out of her. "It's been a while."

"Ryuu-kun!" She clasps his hand in hers, and he pretends not to notice how it shakes. "I thought you'd be busy."

"It's Tora," he says, as if that explains everything, and her eyes shutter again. Tora's son peers up at him with a suspicious look that reminds him so much of a young Tora that it hurts. Even his teeth, worrying at his bottom lip, are the same odd shape. 

"You're making Mom sad," he accuses. Ryuuji looks down at him.  _ Rin,  _ he remembers Tora boasting.

"That's not my fault," Ryuuji answers. He's waited for Tora for six long years. It's his right to be sad. Hell, it's his right to make  _ Miyako  _ sad. She's the one who changed Tora's dream. She's the reason he was even out there on a fishing boat in the first place.

"Stay for— after. Let's talk," Miyako says to him, her hand on Rin's head to stop him from saying anything else. She looks tired, and gaunt, and suddenly she isn't beautiful at all. Just a wreck. Just like him.

"It's not— I only wanted to—" He can't say it. He tries to clear away the lump of pain in his throat, but no matter how many times he swallows, it forces tears to the corners of his eyes. Miyako, watching him, nods.

"He's in the back room," she says, and pulls her children away.

The casket is closed. Drowned bodies are grotesque, or so Ryuuji has heard. But he'd have liked to see Tora one last time. He was always so proud of his good looks. Ryuuji would have made fun, and Tora would probably have a grand old sulk in the afterlife. Or wherever he is.

"Tora," he whispers, drawing his fingers along the glossy wood. It's a deep chocolate-brown varnish, like Tora's hair had been. He imagines he's stroking Tora's hair instead, the way he never got to do.

"You promised, you asshole. How am I going to conquer the world without you?"

His breath chokes him, and he bends forward, touching his forehead to the casket. He aches, everywhere, from his eyes to his chest to the palms of his hands. "You  _ promised. _ "

Ryuuji thinks he can hear Tora's laughter, but he knows if he looks up there will be nothing but vast grey emptiness sprawling out before him, and all around him, always. 


End file.
